Torque converters including stators with blades are known in the art. Conventional stator blades typically have profiles substantially similar to an airfoil. It would be desirable to create a stator blade which increases the mass flow rate through the stator at both high and low speed ratios. An improved mass flow is known to lower the k-factor, and therefore increase the torque capacity of the torque converter.
It should be appreciated that one could increase the mass flow rate by spacing adjacent stator blades farther apart. However, spacing the blades farther apart would also have the undesirable consequence of reducing channeling. Reduced channeling is known in the art to reduce efficiency of a torque converter. Thus, unfortunately, modifying a stator or stator blades to improve one torque converter parameter, such as torque capacity, typically results in an undesirable reduction in other parameters, such as torque ratio or efficiency.
Thus, there is a long-felt need for a stator blade that enables an increase in torque capacity while maintaining previous values for other parameters such as torque ratio and efficiency.